PeopleofSuperintelligence

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Safiya Umoja Noble

Also known as Safiya Noble

Safiya Umoja Noble is a UCLA professor who studies how digital technology and artificial intelligence converge with race, gender, and power. After more than a decade in multicultural marketing, advertising, and public relations, she earned a Ph.D. in library and information science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2012 and joined UCLA's Department of Information Studies in 2014. NYU Press published her book Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism in 2018, and she received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2021, the inaugural NAACP-Archewell Digital Civil Rights Award in 2022, and NISO's Miles Conrad Award in 2023. She is the David O. Sears Presidential Endowed Chair of Social Sciences at UCLA, where she directs the Center on Race & Digital Justice and co-directs the Minderoo Initiative on Tech & Power.

Works
97
Badges
Links
Website

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026. Citations and h-index are hidden because this OpenAlex record may be incomplete or mix in other authors.

Timeline

  1. By 2014

    An Illinois PhD, then UCLA

    She studies sociology at California State University, Fresno, and then works for more than a decade in multicultural marketing, advertising, and public relations. At the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign she earns an M.S. and a Ph.D. in library and information science in 2012, with a dissertation titled Searching for Black Girls: Old Traditions in New Media, and joins the faculty as an assistant professor. She moves to UCLA's Department of Information Studies in 2014.

  2. 2016–2018

    Tenure at UCLA

    In 2016, she receives the UCLA Early Career Award and is appointed a Hellman Fellow. She receives tenure at UCLA and is promoted to associate professor in 2018.

  3. 2018

    Algorithms of Oppression

    NYU Press publishes her book Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism in February 2018. It argues that private interests in promoting certain sites, together with the monopoly status of a few search engines, produce search algorithms that privilege whiteness and discriminate against people of color, specifically women of color. The New York Public Library features it in its 2018 Best Books for Adults.

  4. 2020

    The Real Facebook Oversight Board

    In September 2020, she is named one of the 25 members of the Real Facebook Oversight Board, an independent monitoring group for Facebook. She is also nominated in 2020 to the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Artificial Intelligence for Humanity.

  5. 2021

    A MacArthur Fellowship

    She is awarded a 2021 MacArthur Fellowship; the foundation gives each of its 25 fellows $625,000 over five years. Her scholarship examines how digital technology and artificial intelligence converge with questions of race, gender, culture, and power. In 2021, she also founds the non-profit Equity Engine to accelerate investment in companies, education, and networks driven by women of color.

  6. 2022

    A digital civil rights award

    In 2022, she is the inaugural recipient of the NAACP-Archewell Digital Civil Rights Award. She also founds the UCLA Center on Race & Digital Justice, which she directs, and becomes Co-Director of UCLA DataX-Data Justice.

  7. 2023

    NISO's Miles Conrad Award

    NISO names her the recipient of its 2023 Miles Conrad Award, a lifetime achievement award for those working in the information community. The award ceremony and lecture take place during the virtual NISO Plus conference in February 2023.

  8. As of October 2026

    Chair at UCLA

    She holds the David O. Sears Presidential Endowed Chair of Social Sciences at UCLA, directs the Center on Race & Digital Justice, and co-directs the Minderoo Initiative on Tech & Power. Leiden University announces in October 2025 that it will award her an honorary doctorate in February 2026, recognizing a body of work that has sparked a broad debate about transparency, regulation and ethics in the tech sector.

Career

  1. Since 2014University of California, Los AngelesAssistant Professor, Founder
  2. 2021Equity EngineFounder
  3. From 2020Real Facebook Oversight BoardMember
  4. Until 2014University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignAssistant Professor

Education

  1. 2012University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignM.S.
  2. California State University, FresnoSociology

From the biography.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of California, Los Angeles. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  2. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of California, Los Angeles. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  3. Universities keep AI researchers for a median of 6 years, compared with 2 years at frontier labsIncludes University of California, Los Angeles. Across 15,811 dated work stays (6,529 people), median role tenure runs from 6 years at universities to 2 years at frontier labs. We compare all five organization types, starting decades from the 1970s to the 2020s, and the organizations that keep people longest.
  4. People shaping AI work at a median of 3 organizations over a career: 3 for university starters and institute and lab starters, versus 2 for company startersIncludes University of California, Los Angeles. Across 6,853 people shaping AI with a dated work role, we estimate a median of 3 parent organizations over a career (mean 3.6), comparing role groups, starting sectors and starting decades from the 1950s to 2020–2026.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Safiya U. Noble - UCLA School of Education & Information Studies seis.ucla.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Safiya Noble - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Algorithms of Oppression - NYU Press nyupress.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. UCLA Professor Safiya Umoja Noble Awarded MacArthur Fellowship | LA Social Science lasocialscience.ucla.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble to Receive NISO's 2023 Miles Conrad Award niso.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. Safiya Umoja Noble - NYU Press nyupress.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. Honorary doctorates for Safiya Umoja Noble and Catherine Malabou during 2026 Dies Natalis - Leiden University universiteitleiden.nl. Checked 20 October 2026.